I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Now i haven't done a blog since the 9th of march. 

Over two weeks ago and i felt i should just do one just so people know I'm still alive.

So since my last blog a few things have happened.

Ive sat 4 exams, turned 19 and grown a massive beard.

Exams went OK.

I feel confident about court reporting and reporting, i reckon a borderline pass for media law but unfortunately i think i may have to re-take Public Affairs. if i have passed it it will be a very borderline indeed.

The second part of my course is to put together a portfolio of articles i have written. One piece i am looking at putting together is a piece about University, I know how cliche! 

i will be looking at job possibilities afterwards and so will want some peoples views on whether their degree has helped them get a job or if they have taken a different career path or if they are worried about their chances of getting a job after they finish their courses.

If anyone is interested in doing a quick interview let me know and i will sort something out.

What else has happened in the two weeks that we haven't conversed?

Ive been in Southampton twice visiting Dickie and his flat mates.
the most recent time in Southampton was for Dickie's housemates 21st birthday which was a lovely excuse to get thoroughly pissed.

The time before that i was summoned to Southampton to take Jenny on a date. Well i say a date it was lunch until the waiter insinuated it was a date. i gave a little fist pump, punching well above my weight! ;)

Joe came and visited me in Bournemouth for his interview at the uni. The plan was for Joe to come and visit we would have some dinner and a few drinks, then back to mine early to bed early to rise and then off to work and interview respectively.

But these things never quite workout like that.

Joe sprung a lovely surprise on me and told me that Julia was meeting us for dinner because he couldn't stand a whole evening on me on his own.

I had just finished my exams so was meeting my friends from the course for a drink. me and Joe met up with the guys and had a few drinks there. My course mates were asking for embarrassing stories about me but as those who know me all know that i am incredibly boring and on this occasion my blushes were spared.

The three of us (Joe, Julia and i) went for dinner at Pizza Express and then Joe was whisked away from Bournemouth to go partying in Southampton like a character from skins.

A drunk Peter had a bed all to himself....Result!

So what the plan for the next few weeks i hear you ask?

Well I have an entire week of Shorthand! 

Then i go home for one and a bit weeks then back to Bournemouth, sit a shorthand exam and then go off to London to do 2 weeks work experience at 442 Magazine.

Very excited.

So that was just a quick update of how i am doing, there will probably be more to follow later in the week.

See you all soon hopefully.

Pete

“Journalism is the first rough draft of history.”

Well that was a long week!

I'm starting to forget what day light looks like.

Monday 9.30 to 7.

Long day! did a reporting mock, did OK apart from a few misplaced apostrophes.

Tuesday 9.30 to 6.

Sports Journalism with Mr Rick Broadbent. when you have two hours a week with someone who is as successful as Rick, for those two hours you work your hardest. Rick is the athletics correspondent for the Times so is working at the very top.

In the afternoon we had court reporting...for four hours straight. it started brightly and ended with us slumped at the table not because it was boring but because 4 hours straight of anything slowly melts your brain.

Wednesday 10 to 7.

Another long day (can you see the trend here).
Usual shenanigans, Reporting, Media Law, Shorthand, Public Affairs.
BED

Thursday 10 to 5.
HOME IN THE DAYLIGHT.
same routine as above!

So that was my week.

Shorthand i have good days and bad days. sometimes i can nail 80 wpm and flirt with 100wpm and others i can barely do 60wpm.

i just need more practise. get consistent.

Onto some sad news This is my last blog....... as an 18-year-old!

Yes the next time i write on this blog i shall be 19.

I'm quite excited but at the same time all my exams are happening around my birthday so in some ways i don't want my birthday at all!

AAAAnd on my birthday i have to be in work from 10 till 8! 10 hours! however the promise of alcohol and a meal afterwards with some friends sounds rather enticing!

By the way if anyone is not sure what they want to do and want to find out more about NCTJ and journalism they can by all means direct message me to find out more info.


DO NOT THINK YOU HAVE TO GO TO UNI!


Uni can be good in specialised subject but don't go to uni for the sake of going to uni. Do something that is going to help you get a job afterwards and thanks to the Leveson Inquiry there will be lots of jobs in Journalism!!


So i shall leave you with this question of the week!

What are you looking forward to most

The London Olympics or Euro 2012?


Let me know via Facebook or Twitter

See you soon!

Pete
 

Is the catch ever as good as the chase?

Hi......Alright....


Firstly I'm very sorry about the lack of blog last week. I finished work last week and was travelling home almost immediately so I had no chance to write it. I though that I would write it on Sunday by a misguided decision to go to the grove put paid to that idea.

So what happened last week?

Not much to be honest it wasn't as exciting as this week.

So what happened this week then?

Well after £4000 and 7 weeks of learning I finally started my first Sports Journalism lecture! and it was worth it!

Out tutor is a guy called Rick Broadbent, He is the the Athletics correspondent at the Times and promised to get us on the Work Experience list for The Times, so hopefully some work experience could be happening soon.

It was so nice to finally write about sport, rather than news, it gave me fresh imputes just as my faith was dwindling!

We also started Court Reporting (pointless for a SJ I like to argue) but again it was nice to meet a new face in Alison who is a Barrister and teaches us how we can avoid trouble when writing from court.

Everything is slowly coming together though and I'm pretty sure in 2-3 weeks when i sit my exam i should be prepared.

Long week though! I'm shattered, so far this week I've done 10-7, 9.30-6, 10-7 and 10-5ish. so I'm rather tired but looking forward to a weekend of revision practise and going for lunch with my sister who is going to be extremely old on Monday!

So as i mentioned i went home last weekend. It was great to see everyone again.

I didn't see everyone I wanted to but Hey, beggars cant be choosers!

On Friday evening i went to see a play at the marine theatre starring our very own Joseph Youens doing a very good Australian accident. then to the pub afterwards, which of course was very nice!

Then Saturday after doing  a few hours of speed building, went out once again and had a rather good night which included a kid getting a puncture and my new chat up line "Hi I'm Pete, I'm a Journalist"!

Whenever i had the opportunity to go out with mates i always turned it down, i never really liked those sort of situations. however now that i don't have that opportunity i really miss it. and cant wait until April when i come home and have a really good time!!!

I felt bad on Sunday not just because of the night before but because i felt like i could have spent my weekend in a more productive way and i had spent a lot of money as well.

However my Mum reminded me that I work really hard as part of this course and i do deserve to be able to let off a little steam every now and then.

A lot of people have stopped reading this blog as it wasn't what they were expecting, so for my "Question of the week" I want to know what you would like me to talk about more? Funny anecdotes? music and films to watch/listen to? or carry on with the journalism shindig?


Let me know




See you in April!




Pete

You're like a turkey voting for christmas.

Week 6 I think!

Over half way now! 4 weeks until exams! Joy (!)

To get me through this stressful time i have started with an insane combination of Redbull/Mountain dew, Dance Music and Cocaine!

Monday was once again news day and Here is the link to my article. 

In Public Affairs we have started looking at Local Government and discussing whether or not it should be political. I personally think it's difficult to run it without it being politically bias but that doesn't mean I'm right.

Tuesday we went out and about doing Vox Pop's about Valentines day, Asking people one question... "Do opposites attract?" and most people said yes they did, some people even said "Well if magnets do, then so do people!" WHAT! that makes no sense! you cretin! I really don't believe opposites attract for example what happens if I was part of the KKK? i imagine that my girlfriend would also be a white supremacist and not an extremist Muslim. yes this is a rather extreme generalisation but again how often do you see Vegetarians married to people who eat meat? or someone that enjoys sadomasochism married to a Quaker! Wouldn't Happen!

Wednesday and Thursday passed without a hitch! and for those that read last weeks blog (which was about 8 by the way) may be wondering how doing 100 wpm went in shorthand..... well it nearly gave me a panic attack but overall went alright! Still far too quick for me, but this is an intensive course so we need to push ourselves.

It has been bought to my attention this week that I'm a Hipster. For those who don't know what a hipster is, to put it simply it is some one that is a sucker for trends and revels in the fact that they know about certain films and music that others don't. and they hate the Mainstream!

I have now decided to embrace my Hipster style! Is there anything wrong with seeking out new films that others haven't heard of? Just cause people haven't heard of it doesn't mean it isn't good.

Give me Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind than that god awful Pocahontas remake Avatar any day of the week!

So question of the week is simply this

What is your favourite film? see i think there is a difference between the best film i have seen and my favourite film. The Best Film i have ever seen is Shawshank Redemption. but it isn't my favourite film. Ive watched it once and that will do for me. My favourite film is Fight Club simply because i can watch it over and over again and every time i notice something that i didn't the last time i saw it!

So what is your favourite film?


See you soon!

Pete

Can I Get An Upgrade Please!

I think this is week 5, but don't quote me on that!

A strange week this one simply because of the first two days.

I felt I hadn't progressed at all in class. Journalism practise and our news days were disastrous, I couldn't find a story at all! Shorthand didn't go very well, law wouldn't sink in and Public Affairs felt way over my head.

However

Wednesday and Thursday came and the progress I had been searching for came in abundance! well maybe not an abundance but I felt I moved forward. Reporting felt like common sense, Public Affairs MADE sense, Media law sank in and I was even able to challenge our tutor on a few things about defamation. 

Our shorthand tutor Karen just decided that Wednesday would be the day we moved from 50wpm in shorthand to 80wpm. Cheers then! However by Thursday I felt I was getting the hang of it and the daunting news that next week we would be moving on to 100wpm makes me very excited! so excited in fact I think I have D&V over the matter. 

A nice enjoyable week, which was capped off on Thursday by going for lunch at a Chinese restaurant with the guys from the class (minus 2, who weren't there and were of course missed) which was described as a business lunch (in the menu) and therefore we were business people for a few hours. 

The idea of the lunch was to talk about stories we will research over the weekend and write about on Monday, however we winded up talking about our Media Law tutor and all his anecdotes and who will replace Capello as England Manager!

(By the way if you cared about the opinnion of an aspiring Sports Journalist, I think it should be Trevor Brooking with Stewie Pearce as assistant, simply for the world cup, a bit of passion is what we need!)

Now for something completely different.

I'm not a Tory, I'm not a Lib Dem and I'm not labour. To be honest I'm not sure who I support! I feel as though we should support the government simply because we voted them in, and partly because of Ed Miliband.

I cannot describe my hatred for Mr Miliband, to all intents and purposes I think he is a twat......foolish man.

Every thing about him annoys me, his voice, his arrogance, his repeated chopping hand movement and the fact that he look like Beaker from The Muppet's!

He isn't going to be Prime Minister any time soon simply for the fact that a) Nobody can see him as Prime Minister, b) Nobody has forgotten the shit storm that Labour got us into and c) he is a twat...foolish man!




OK so rant over, onto some nice thoughts.

"I Simply, Lucifer, refuse to wind up on fire with low-life liars"

"Then you destined for the the world, without chores and sweating-
The eternal hell of boredom in heaven."
The Streets, "Heaven For The Weather." 
  
Question of the Week! 

Capello is too obvious so I shall say.....

Are you excited about the Olympics? Some see it as a time where we can be proud of our country, we can show off everything that makes our country great. Or are you bored of the hype? Couldn't give a toss. More worried about the chance of a failed legacy after the pomp,ceremony and the competition has all finished. Let me know!

Probably send another blog out on Sunday evening about my adventures of the weekend but we shall see!

See you soon!

Pete

I think I have probably bought everyone here a drink.

So as you may have read last week I'm going to start posting blogs about me rather than my work. And I was trying to say what day I would be posting them, and that didn't really make sense, so what I'll say is, I shall post these when ever I feel like!

This blog will contain stories and jokes and thing of that nature, it will also involve me telling you what in listening to, band wise and a good film or TV programme.

And we will see how it goes

OK quick story.

I had to buy loo paper this week! I know a story about toilets, look how I've grown!

As I walked into a well known high street supermarket (no product placement here!) I hoped that the very good looking girl, wo works there, wasn't behind the counter today, the day I need to buy loo roll!
 

Lo and Behold there she was in all her loveliness, beaming as she beeps the loo roll and puts it in my reusable bag. I'm pretty sure if the Supermarket wasn't full she would have ravaged me on the tills, with the purchases I had made that day (!) "Loo roll, Kit kats AND a reusable bag, Hey stand back, you might get hit with this shitty stick I'm using to fend girls off with!"

And now here's something completely different.

MUSIC: Currently I am listening to Oxford Collapse, I suggest if you fancy listening to them "Please Visit Your National Parks" is a good song to get into them.

FILM: I recently watched "Submarine". Moss from the IT crowd (Richard Ayoade) has got all "growed" up and directs what I can only call a masterpiece of modern indie film. 15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.(taken from IMDB)


Craig Roberts who plays Oliver Tate is absolutely brilliant and is a young man with a bright future ahead of him I'm sure. Noah Taylor plays his father to boring brilliance, if you have to time to watch this film you will understand the subtlety of Taylor's performance.

To top it all off Alex Turner, of Arctic Monkeys fame, wrote the soundtrack which complements the film perfectly. Some of the songs where later used on the Arctic Monkeys 4th Album "Humbug", Piledriver Waltz for instance.

If you have a chance, and like British Films, I suggest you see this film.

That's all from me at the moment

See you soon 

Pete 

Part 2

So week 4 is over and once again, what a week!

Monday started with us having to find a story, write it and then have it published on the Up To Speed Website for all the world to see. I found my story from just looking through the Bournemouth Borough Council website. Some might say it was lazy however I thought I was able to find quite an interesting story (!)
If you missed that because like most normal human beings you weren't on Facebook on a Monday lunchtime when I posted it to the news feed, here it is again!

http://uptospeednews.co.uk/news/bournemouth/bournemouths-number-one-for-recycling/


Tuesday was another bog standard day, reporting in the morning, law in the early afternoon and then finished it off with shorthand. nice day, home by 5.30! 


Wednesday was probably the scariest but most enjoyable day we've had so far.....Well the morning was. We were given our first interviewing task. Now I know you might think "Interviewing that's not that difficult" and to be honest it isn't when you know what information you want to get for the story you are about to write. Which we weren't. We were taken into a little room, given a name, number and one word "Wedding". Tom, the course director told us "This person phoned the news room, while you were out and has a story for you.... find out what it was, you have 5 minutes.... Go!"

My First thought was simply...Panic!!! before I phoned I made notes on what I needed to ask him, name, surname, address, correct spelling. I dialled the number in front of me. 

Now I'm not gonna take you through the whole interview, firstly because of the adrenalin that was pumping around my body, with the mix of nerves, for the life of me I can't remember what I said! I got the story, made my notes, was very polite and wrote the story.


I think the rest of the class had the same feelings...That was horrible, but sometimes that's all you get for a story, a name and a number. Not even a keyword like we did.


Exciting.

Thursday, our shorthand teacher (who is lovely by the way, I know I complain about shorthand all the time, but Karen makes it enjoyable) was away at a conference so we only had reporting from 10-12 and I was home by half past. Just like being back in sixth form, but with more adults and I'm actually enjoying myself.

So plan for the weekend is simple... Work. Also I need to look for a story for Monday as its our news day where we find stories and then write them for the website.


I went home last weekend, yes that's right I still call it home. It is still home, and will be until I completely move out. It was nice to see people in Lyme and all of them seemed interested in my course and what I'm up to and of course we drank way too much, was promised nights out in Bournemouth (I shall take you up that offer Cara!), quoted "Friends" and lay on the beach to look at the stars (I wish for my sanity that I was making this bit up but unfortunately I'm not)!


But more stories on drunken escapades whenever I feel like writing them! after the weekend probably.


For those of you that are interested, and wondered why I turned my back on film, (I didn't by the way, it turned its back on me) I'm letting you know I haven't completely. With my free time over the weekends I shall be doing work, but i have also began writing scenes for a films again, just to get the creative juices flowing (!) ha


Well, is that you in front of me?
Coming back for even more of exactly the same
You must be a masochist to love a modern leper
On his last leg
Frightened Rabbit "Modern Leper"

So question of the week. 

Who's gonna win the Six nations? Will Wales carry on their World Cup form? Will Stuart Lancaster revitalise England? Will Italy surprise some teams? Will France go one better than the World Cup? How will Ireland cope without O'Driscoll? and I think Scotland are playing as well.

Talk Later




P.s You Fell Asleeeeep